My provocative proposal: Want a roadway safety movement? Ditch the engineers.

For the most part, transportation engineering as a profession has evolved to correct legacy decisions that impact safety and seeks to make safer future decisions. Engineering jobs, in many instances, are prioritized at the forefront of the roadway safety movement due to the power of a Professional Engineer (PE) license.

Known as “plangineers,” these urban planners combine their planning skills with engineering and project management expertise that is learned on the job. While plangineer may not be a job title for your organization to hire or bill, it is a reminder that engineering skills can be taught and that all the practitioners who speak the language of roadway safety in the built environment can adapt their knowledge to meet engineering needs.

Kristina Curtiss